List of notable horses of Irad
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This is a list of notable horses of Irad: horses remembered in Iradi history, legend, art, sport and the media. Horses hold a central place in Iradi culture (see Iradi Equestrian Culture & Breeds), and many are known from tradition rather than from records. The list therefore marks each entry as legend (known only from tradition), documented (known from records) or both (a recorded horse about whom a popular story is also told, which the entry keeps apart from the record).[1]
Iradi horse names are usually built from words for the coat and character: ak (white), boz (grey), kara (black), toru (bay), sur (mouse-dun), ala (piebald), kök (blue-grey), sary (pale gold), kashka (blaze), jal (mane), tuyak (hoof) and bee (mare).[1] For the horses of the epics shared with the Kyrgyz, such as Manas's Ak-Kula, see the articles on the epics.
List
| Name | Meaning | Period | Breed and coat | Owner or rider | Remembered for | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kan-Ter | "Blood-sweat" | 104–101 BCE | Fergana stallion | King Mugua of Dayuan | Hidden in the walnut-forest hills by the Dayuan nobles rather than handed to the Han army in the War of the Heavenly Horses; breeders' lore makes him the source of the Akyel's metallic doran coat. The Han sources name none of the horses (see Dayuan Heavenly Horse Heritage). | Legend |
| Ak-Sur | "White mouse-dun" | 751 | Mare | The deacon Sargis | After the Battle of Talas, led the Christians of Taraz north into the foothills and lay down at a spring, where they built a chapel. Several valleys claim the "Ak-Sur spring" and race a grey mare at its patronal feast. | Legend |
| Kara-Kashka | "Black with a blaze" | Medieval | Dark horse | Janyl | Janyl's horse in Janyl Baatyr, named in the 1938 text, following the White Rider's white horse to the First Church; the dark horse in Yusup Ayyubov's The White Rider Shows the Way (1913). | Legend |
| Ak-Tuyak | "White hoof" | 1720s | Grey stallion | Gewargis Dosaly uulu | Gift of Abd al-Rahim Biy of Kokand from his own stable to the captain of the Christian Iradi cavalry after the Dzungar campaign, entered in a Kokand charter (State Archives, Fond 3). Mountain icons of St. Gewargis give the saint's horse one white hoof in his memory. | Both |
| Akbozat | "White-grey horse" | 1908 | Mare | Wife of the Governor of Semirechye | Painted by Ermek Saparbekov in place of her owner, who had asked for her own portrait (Irad Palace of Art). | Documented |
| Jol-Bashchy | "Leader of the road" | 1916 | Bay mare | Ayimkan Mambet kyzy, a widow of the upper Talas | In the flight of 1916 (Urkun), found the old track in fresh snow on a pass of the Tian Shan and led her column over; died on the Chinese side. Her ballad opens Ballads of the Horse (2012). | Legend |
| Kara-Jal | "Black mane" | 1925 | Black stallion | Chong-Talas Stud Farm | Taken with 41 mares in a raid on the state stud in October 1925 and never recovered; the raid behind Ormon Satarov's novel The Rider from Kenkol (1964). See Kara-Jal (Horse). | Both |
| Jaynak | "Sparkling" | Foaled 1921 | Golden Akyel stallion | Bred by Itbai Kapar uulu | No. 1 in the first Akyel studbook (1927); most registered Akyels trace to him in the male line. See Jaynak (Horse). | Documented |
| Kökjal | "Grey mane" | Foaled c. 1919 | Chongtor stallion | Chong-Talas Stud Farm | No. 1 in the first Chongtor studbook (1926); painted by Saparbekov. A legend says he was hidden in a cave through the requisitions of 1944. See Kökjal (Horse). | Both |
| Sary-Ala | "Pale piebald" | 1941–1946 | Mare | Kadyrkul Seitkazy uulu | Requisitioned with her rider from a collective farm near Kara-Buura in 1941; he was killed near Moscow that December. "The mare who came home" is said to have walked into the farm in the spring of 1946 with an army brand, and never worked again. | Legend |
| The widow's horse (Jesir aty) | 1956 | Cart-horse | An unnamed widow | Shot at a checkpoint in Talas on 14 June 1956 (Talas Checkpoint Incident (1956)). The internal security report calls it a bay cart-horse and gives no name; the white mare of the popular story comes from Hal Westover's ballad "The Widow's Horse" (1984). | Both | |
| Uchkun | "Spark" | Foaled 1959 | Akyel stallion | Talas State Stud (stud master Sultanaly Jakyp uulu) | Gold medal at the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy, Moscow, 1967, which brought the Akyel into the all-Union breed register; sire of most Akyel stallions of the 1970s. | Documented |
| Jel-Kayyk | "Wind-boat" | 1973–1975 | Akyel mare | Jockey Osmon Kalys uulu | Won the long-distance race for local breeds at the Tashkent Hippodrome three years running; the first Iradi horse shown on Soviet Central Television. | Documented |
| Kara-Kuyun | "Black whirlwind" | 1978–1988 | Chongtor gelding | Asylbash Satybaldy uulu | Star of Soviet ulak tartysh for the Kyzyl-Tuu collective farm: six republican championships, the Central Asian tournament at Frunze in 1982, and the carrier of the ulak at the republic's 60th-anniversary show in Talas in 1985. | Documented |
| Tuman | "Fog" | 1975–1995 | Grey Akyel-cross stallion | Talasfilm horse unit (wrangler Esengul Kerimbek) | Horse of Rise of Glory (1979), The Golden Bay (1980) and Journey of the Steppes (1988). See Tuman (Horse). | Both |
| Boz-Bee | "Grey mare" | 1992 | Chongtor mare | Kurmanbek Kudaibergen uulu, a Tanıp herder | Led the March of the Thousand Saddles into Talas on 18 February 1992; the photograph of the old man on the grey mare at the head of the column is the march's best-known image. | Documented |
| Suuchu | "Water-carrier" (nickname) | 1992 | Grey Chongtor mare | Stable hand Borubai Zhumagulov | During the siege of Talas, with the mains cut, the Hippodrome's horses hauled water carts up from the river under mortar fire; she is said to have made some 200 runs. The saying that no Talas family ate a horse during the siege is told with her story. | Both |
| Sary-Ay | "Pale-gold moon" | 1995–1998 | Akyel mare | A breeder in the Texas Hill Country | First Akyel exported to the United States (1995); shown in the Parade of Breeds at the Kentucky Horse Park in 1996; foundation mare of the American Akyel register (1998). | Documented |
| Ishenim ("Faithful") | "Faith" | 2002–2016 | White Akyel-cross gelding | Nathan Isabekov | The white horse on which Isabekov rode in at his revivals at the State Hippodrome and at the opening of the Faithful and True Church auditorium at Easter 2006; Syro-Iradi critics' favorite example of "horse-worship". | Documented |
| Almanbet | After the epic hero Almambet | Foaled 2003 | Dun Chongtor stallion | Bektur Zhumabek uulu | Sire of mountain endurance winners. Ballads and posters show Bektur riding him into Talas on 4 June 2007; photographs show Bektur in a UAZ with Almanbet led behind. | Both |
| Eesiz | "Masterless" | 2008–c. 2019 | Grey gelding | Roberto Chávez Vázquez | Horse of a vaquero of Semiz who rode with the Front and was killed at Talas in 2007; given by his Iradi widow, he led the Day of the Dead procession in Semiz riderless every year from 2008 until his death (see Mexicans in Irad). | Documented |
| Zharkyn | "Radiant" | Foaled 2010 | Golden-dun Akyel stallion | Governor Erlan Toktarov | The Governor's horse in official portraits and state ceremonies. | Documented |
| Kün-Bala | "Sun child" | Foaled 2020 | Palomino Akyel colt | Kyzyl-Jyldyz stud; later a US buyer | The colt whose retest in March 2022 exposed the Kyzyl-Jyldyz pedigree fraud (see Crime in Irad); re-registered under his true sire and kept by his buyer. | Documented |
| Temir-Tuyak | "Iron hoof" | From 2015 | Chongtor gelding | Jolbors Kadyrkul uulu | Ridden by Jolbors in his President's Cup years; the most photographed horse at Aigyr Ulak Nights and on Aigyr Lager posters. Jolbors calls him "the only honest one in the Hippodrome". | Documented |
| Chagylgan | "Lightning flash" | Foaled 2006 | Bay Chongtor gelding with a blaze | Presenter Sagynbek Sopuev | Sopuev's horse on IradOne's Field and Herd since 2009. See Chagylgan (Horse). | Documented |
| Boorsok | After the fried dough | Foaled 2024 | Chongtor filly | Altynai Mukash kyzy | A village girl's filly in the Talas valley and a favorite of the "Horses" room of Tulpar, for clips of her following Altynai to school and into the bakery; fans' mascot for the Year of the Horse in 2026. Her family turned down an offer from Jarysh's Ulak Nights. | Documented |
See also
References
- ^ Talas State University Press (2012). Ballads of the Horse. Iradi Folklore (Eldik Muras), vol. III. Talas.
What links here (20)
- Iradi Equestrian Culture & Breeds
- Akyel Horse
- Battle of Talas
- Ulak Tartysh (Sport)
- Dayuan Heavenly Horse Heritage
- Chongtor Horse
- Zharkyn (Horse)
- March of the Thousand Saddles
- Ermek Saparbekov
- The Epic of Janyl
- Kara-Jal (Horse)
- Jaynak (Horse)
- Kökjal (Horse)
- Tuman (Horse)
- Chagylgan (Horse)
- State Stud Farm of Talas
- Treaty of Talas (1727)
- Talas Checkpoint Incident (1956)
- Almanbet (Chongtor Stallion)
- Faithful and True Church
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